Football Betting Odds

Regardless of whether you’re a veteran football bettor or simply looking to place your first football bet, odds on football matches are available at dozens of the biggest bookmakers in the betting industry. No matter which league, match or betting market you want to bet on, you’ll find the best odds for today’s football matches available at Smartbets.

Whether you’re looking for betting odds on football match result markets such as 1X2, Asian handicaps and goal totals or the vast array of specials and exotics, Smartbets list the best odds for all popular football betting markets.

Smartbets shows you which bookmakers are offering the best odds for the market you are looking to place a bet on. There’s no need to browse from bookmaker to bookmaker, Smartbets list football odds across a diverse menu of markets giving you the ability to see which bookmakers are offering you the best value.

How To Convert Odds

Football odds come in a number of formats. The most popular of these are decimal odds and fractional odds. While fractional odds are considered the most traditional form of football odds, decimal odds are certainly the most popular. Either way, Smartbets allows you to set your preferred odds format including not only decimal and fractional football odds, but also moneyline odds.

Decimal Odds

Decimal odds are presented in decimal format. For example, odds for a match between Manchester City and Tottenham would be listed in decimal format as:

Manchester City 2.00

Draw 3.40

Tottenham 3.90

Decimal odds display what your profit will be if you bet on a certain outcome and your bet wins. We will discuss this in more detail shortly.

Fractional Odds

How do fractional odds differ from decimal odds? Using our previous example, fractional odds are presented in the following format:

Manchester City 1/1

Draw 12/5

Tottenham 29/10

Fractional odds display the amount you will receive in profit, given an amount staked. As with decimals, we will discuss this in more detail shortly. Smartbets also offers odds displayed in Moneyline format. You can learn more about Moneyline odds here.

To convert decimal odds to fractional odds or vice versa, use this odds conversion tool.

Football Betting Payout

So how much do you stand to win from your football bets today? Whichever odds format you prefer to use, calculating your profit from a winning bet is easy.

Decimal Odds

As discussed earlier, decimal odds are presented in decimal format. For example, odds for a match between Arsenal and Manchester United would be listed in decimal format as:

Arsenal 2.25

Draw 3.25

Manchester United 3.60

The odds show you what your profit will be if you bet on a certain outcome and that bet wins.

For example, if you bet £20 on Arsenal to win the match at odds of 2.25, your profit can be calculated as:
Profit = (Odds x Stake) - Stake
So in our example, if Arsenal win the match we make a profit of:

Profit = (2.25 x £20) - £20

Profit = £45 - £20

Profit = £25

So if we bet £20 on Arsenal to win the match at odds of 2.25, and the Gunners win the match, we make a profit of £25.

Fractional Odds

Using our previous example, fractional odds are presented in the following format:

Arsenal 5/4

Draw 9/4

Manchester United 13/5

Fractional odds display the amount you will make in profit, given an amount staked.

The first number in fractional odds is referred to as the numerator, while the last number is referred to the denominator. So in our example, Arsenal are at odds of 5/4, meaning the numerator is 5 and the denominator is 4.

Calculating your profit from fractional odds is therefore easy and can be done using the following formula:

Profit = (numerator / denominator) x stake

So again using our previous example, if we place a £20 bet on Arsenal at odds of 5/4 and Arsenal wins the match we make a profit of:

Profit = (5/4) x £20

Profit = 1.25 x £20

Profit = £25 2

Football Odds On Today’s Matches

Whichever league or tournament you’re interested in betting on, there’s literally hundreds of matches and dozens of bookmakers listing football odds today.

If you’re keen for football odds today, focusing on match result odds, Asian handicaps or goal totals, you’ll find odds available across a range of recommended bookmakers including bet365, Ladbrokes, William Hill and others.

But there’s more to football odds today than traditional betting markets. Smartbets also lists increasingly popular markets such as Halftime/Fulltime, Correct Score, Both Teams To Score not to mention additional markets focusing time of goals scored, red and yellow cards and corners just to name a few.

What are tonight’s football odds?

Looking for the best football odds tonight? Smartbets is currently listing football odds available for all of tonight’s matches, with odds available at the biggest bookmakers in the industry including the giants of the UK betting.

There’s a crucial football match being played every night of the week and tonight is no different. If you’re looking to get a bet on this evening, Smartbets has the best football odds tonight listed league by league, match by match and market by market. Browse Smartbets and find the bookmaker offering the best football odds for you tonight.

Odds Comparison

Using a football odds comparison site such as Smartbets is crucial to successful betting. If you want to make consistent profits from your football betting, then you must continually take the best odds available. And the only way to do that is by using football odds comparison sites.

What are football comparison sites? Simply put, football comparison sites provide you with football odds across a wide range of markets, so you can see which bookmakers are offering the best odds for the match you want to bet on.

As a football odds comparison site, Smartbets lists football odds across a diverse range of bookmakers, many you no doubt already know and others we recommend you consider adding to your bookmaker portfolio.

Let’s consider a simple betting odds comparison football example. Let’s say you want to bet on a certain outcome for a particular match, for example, Over 2.5 goals in an upcoming Champions League match. You can find the best odds for that outcome by following Smartbets.

If you’re new to football betting, you may view a football odds comparison site and be wondering - why is there such a diverse range of odds available for a single outcome?

For example, the odds for Over 2.5 goals in our Champions League match may vary between odds of 1.75 and odds of 1.85.

So what explains the variation in football odds?

Firstly, it can simply be a matter of opinion. One bookmaker believes the chances of the match going over 2.5 goals (odds of 1.75) are greater than that of another bookmaker (odds of 1.85).

Secondly, both bookmakers may have opened their Over 2.5 goals market at odds of 1.85. One bookmaker has attracted a greater weight of money on Over 2.5 goals, seeing their odds drop to 1.75 as a result.

Thirdly, it can simply be a matter of payout. One bookmaker is offering the better odds simply because they are offering a better payout on that market than competing bookmakers.

How to compile football odds?

Who decides what the odds for a football match should be? Football odds are typically set by employing an array of statistical categories to assess the potential of each team in a given competition.

There are a number of statistics used to assess the quality of a given football team. These include: Goals scored, Goals conceded, Shots taken, Shots conceded, Shots on target, Shots on target conceded.

There are many more nuanced elements that go into determining the quality of a given football team including where shots were taken, what time of the match they were taken as well as a consideration for quality of goal scoring opportunities even if a shot was not taken.

With these statistical categories at hand, odds compilers translate the data into meaningful team versus team match probabilities. This typically comes in the form of what is known as a ‘expected goals’ projection.

For example, Bayern Munich may be facing Real Madrid in a Champions League match. Based on statistical analysis, the expected goals projection for the match is:

Bayern Munich 1.60

Real Madrid 1.25

Total goals: 2.85

From these figures, odds compliers can then calculate the probability and therefore the odds, for virtually every football betting market available.

Who decides the best football odds?

The simplest answer to this question is you, the bettor. While bookmakers may set the odds themselves, ultimately it is the weight of money bet on a given outcome that will “correct” the market, creating what is known as an “efficient market” where the odds are a true reflection of each possible outcome in a match.

Let’s say we have a match in a week’s time between Everton and Liverpool. The Asian handicap market for the match opens as:

Liverpool -0.75 odds 1.90

Everton +0.75 odds 1.92

As we can see, Liverpool are slight favourites in the Asian handicap market. Now let’s say we arrive at matchday. The odds are now:

Liverpool -0.75 odds 1.80

Everton +0.75 odds 2.00

What has happened? The weight of money bet on Liverpool -0.75 has seen their odds drop from 1.90 to 1.80 while Everton’s odds have drifted from 1.92 to 2.00. The betting public has spoken by betting on this market and believe that Liverpool -0.75 at odds of 1.80 is a better estimation of their chances than the original odds of 1.90 and vice versa for Everton.

So while it is a complicated topic, when it comes to who determines the best odds, it is fundamentally a result of the amount bet on each outcome in given market.

Why do football odds change?

There are a number of reasons why football odds change. The most common of these are: Injuries players,rested players, public sentiment

The first two are rather obvious. If key players are going to be left out of the team due to either injury or being rested, the odds for that team are prone to drift while the odds for the opposition are likely to shorten.

As mentioned earlier, odds can also change as a result of public sentiment i.e a heavy weight of money is being bet on a particular outcome, causing the market to react and for bookmakers to shorten the odds of the related outcome.

Of course, if you are betting on football in play, then odds are more likely to change than pre-match odds. Causes of sudden in play price movements are: goal scored, red card given, substitution, game time elapsing

Odds Calculator

What do football odds mean?

Football odds reflect the probability of a certain outcome occurring.

Let’s consider a simple football odds calculator example. Chelsea are hosting Manchester City in the Premier League. Chelsea’s odds of winning the match are 2.50. Given these odds, what are the chances Chelsea wins the match? We can calculate Chelsea’s chances of winning the match with the following formula:

Probability = 1 / Decimal

So in our example, we have:

Chelsea’s chances of winning = 1 / 2.50

Chelsea’s chances of winning = 0.40 (i.e 40%)

So the odds of 2.50 suggest Chelsea are a 40% chance of winning the match. We can also convert other popular odds formats into probabilities as well. For example, in fractional format, Chelsea’s odds are 3/2. To convert these odds into probability we use the following formula:

Probability = denominator / (denominator / numerator)

In our example, the denominator is 2 and the numerator is 3. Now we have the following calculation:

Chelsea’s chances of winning = 2 / (2 +3)

Chelsea’s chances of winning = 2 / 5

Chelsea’s chances of winning = 0.40 (i.e 40%)

Why is it so important to understand the probabilities reflected in bookmaker odds? The answer is simple - value bets.

The only way to make money betting on football is to continually place value bets.

What is a value bet?

A value bet is when you believe the probability of an outcome occurring is greater than the probability reflected in bookmaker odds.

So in our example if you believe Chelsea are a 50% chance to defeat Manchester City, then the odds of 2.50 are a value bet, since you think the chances of Chelsea winning (50%) are greater than the chances reflected in the odds of 2.50 (40%). If you believe Chelsea are a 30% chance to defeat Manchester City, then the odds of 2.50 are not a value bet, since you believe the chances of Chelsea winning (30%) are lesser to the chances reflected in the odds of 2.50 (40%).

Calculating Football Acca Odds

Everyone loves an acca, especially a football acca on a Saturday afternoon.

With Smartbets you can find which bookmaker is going to give you the best acca odds. If you’re new to football betting, you may be wondering how the odds for a football acca is calculated. It’s really very easy. Let’s say we want to place the following five fold acca:

Liverpool 3.00

Arsenal1.50

Chelsea 1.40

Tottenham 2.30

West Ham 3.50

What will our acca odds be? To calculate our acca odds, simply multiply each fold of our acca into the next.

So in this example, our acca odds would be:

Acca odds = 3.00 x 1.50 x 1.40 x 2.30 x 3.50

Acca odds = 50.715

If we place £10 on this acca and it wins, we would then collect a profit of:

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